Director George Vollano assumes there will be several moments of audience participation in the lavish production of "The Wizard of Oz" he is staging for Musicals at Richter in Danbury.

"We're hoping there will be some sing-along moments since everyone knows the songs. I think the crowd will really get into it," the director said of the musical opening Friday, July 25, in Richter Park.

Fans of the classic 1939 movie will be pleased to learn that the stage version includes a legendary "lost scene" that was cut just before the Judy Garland vehicle was released.

Known as "The Jitterbug Number," the sequence involves the wicked witch dispatching a bunch of bugs to tire out Dorothy and her pals by dancing them into a daze.

"You can see a reference to it in the film," Vollano said in a recent interview. "The witch says, `I'm gonna send something to take the sting out of them' and then there's a cut. We're doing the full version so you will see that big dance number."

The stage version of "The Wizard of Oz" was put together by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1987 -- which licensed all of the film's music -- and it has been frequently staged since on both sides of the Atlantic.

Musicals at Richter is going all out with its "Wizard of Oz," which features a cast of 40 adults and 60 children as the Munchkins.

"Once the Munchkinland scene is over they're done, so we're going to have to be careful about that," the director said of wrangling the kids who want to stay for the final curtain call.

"Taking care of 60 kids can be a challenge, but they've been really good," Vollano added.

The director has high praise for his Dorothy --

Jessica Cerasoli -- who has to compete with memories of one of the most famous performances in Hollywood history.

"That was a really interesting process," Vollano said of finding his leading lady. "We had eight real possibilities. We were looking for somebody you have to fall in love with right away.

"This girl is really lovely," he said of Cerasoli. "She's still a sophomore in college. She's very pretty and just delightful to work with."

As you can imagine, a lot of time has been spent working on what the director calls "that song" -- "Over the Rainbow," which won the Oscar for best song of 1939 and became Garland's signature tune for the rest of her life.

"We've made sure that the song is done very well," Vollano said.

Doing a big musical outdoors can be risky -- if it rains the show must be canceled because a wet stage is hazardous to the performers -- but the rewards make up for the challenges.

"It really is a great summer evening out for families. They bring tables and food and wine -- an unbelievable amount of food -- but it's such a nice way to spend a night. It's almost like the old days of seeing movies at a drive-in -- the atmosphere is part of the fun," he said.